Alternative (sic) music of the last 30 years

We Always Try Our Hardest

It’s not often that I enjoy a band live but then don’t take to the records. But that was the case with Boycotts and their debut EP ‘Start-A-Boycott’.

Sparky and lively in person, I was disappointed that the songs on the EP recreated the energy of the Tigerfest show last May but lacked the hooks they seemed to have live. The EP was proficient but lacking inspiration.

So it’s pleasing to report that new single ‘Press Play/Real Life’ is much more representative of my memories of that Tigerfest performance.

If the EP seemed to shy away from the band’s pop side, then they embrace it on ‘Press Play’. The hook is put straight up front and in doing so the band find the zip that I found lacking on the EP.

Flip side ‘Real Life’ feels more like the earlier material, striving perhaps for something more serious than pop music. Whilst the songs starts promisingly and has a nice change of pace half way through, at four and a half minutes, it could probably have benefited from being a little shorter and sharper.

For me, at the moment Boycotts may still be at the promising stage, but ‘Press Play’ is undoubtedly their best song to date. It’s available from eMusic and iTunes.